Flying Pie is testing out kea’s conversational AI across all seven locations in Idaho, aiming to answer every order during peak hours
Today kea, the cashier in the cloud improving hospitality and restaurant operations with AI, announced its implementation in Flying Pie Pizzaria, a local restaurant chain based in Idaho. The chain will test and analyze the effectiveness of kea’s conversational AI ordering platform in all seven locations. The initial collaboration aims to improve Flying Pie’s guest experience by ensuring every phone order is answered and placed during peak rush hours.
Currently, Flying Pie gets 50% plus of its to-go orders through the phone. In small towns where the chain operates, such as Eagle, Idaho, phone ordering is common – but answering the phone every time is not. Due to the nationwide labor shortage, having a dedicated cashier to handle phone orders is hard to come by, especially for locally-owned businesses.
“We want to capture every phone order at peak times, and right now we can’t. But with a cashier in the cloud that knows our entire menu front to back, and that can place an order in just a few seconds, we can both increase the number of calls answered and the speed at which orders are placed,” remarked Florian Penalva, Owner of Flying Pie Pizzeria. “We have all reason to believe this is going to work.”
Since Flying Pie Pizzaria recently transitioned to Olo, a leading open SaaS platform that handles digital ordering and operations for restaurants, Flying Pie can now seamlessly use Olo’s integration of kea for phone orders. In just 4 weeks, kea learned all of Flying Pie’s 15000+ menu entities, which includes all original items and potential customizations. Now when a call comes in, kea triages the call, transcribes the order, confirms it with the customer, handles payment, and sends the order through Olo.
Flying Pie Pizzaria marks kea’s third collaboration in 2023 alone. In the last eight months, the company has seen a 100% lift in restaurants adopting its technology. “There’s a clear need for technology that digitizes the phone channel and I’m glad restaurants are getting it and fast,” said Adam Ahmad, CEO and Founder of kea.
Restaurants interested in testing kea for themselves can book a demo at www.kea.ai.
Kea is the cashier in the cloud that improves hospitality and scales restaurant operations through voice AI. Founded by CEO Adam Ahmad in 2018, the company boosts restaurant revenue by ensuring every call gets answered and every to-go order gets placed. Using natural language processing, kea customizes, upsells, and confirms orders, then processes payments through a PCI-compliant system. The company has raised $21M to date.